Pope Francis has canceled a trip to Africa due to a constant knee problem, which raises more scrutiny about the health of the 85-year-old pontiff.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the planned visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan in early July had been canceled “at the request of his doctors so as not to jeopardize the results of the knee therapy. ” and would be rescheduled to a later date.
Francis, who appeared in public using a wheelchair for the first time in early May, has canceled several appointments since minor surgery to treat the knee pain. The Vatican has not revealed exactly what the problem is, but Francis told the Corriere della Sera last month that it needed “minor intervention with infiltration” due to a strained ligament.
The pope plans a six-day trip to Canada from July 24 and another to Kazakhstan in September.
Rumors continue to circulate that Francis could follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Benedict XVI and resign. The talk grew after he announced that he would travel to the Abruzzo city of L’Aquila in late August to attend a party started by a 13th-century pope who himself resigned after only five months at work.
It appears the speculation began during a private meeting with bishops in May, during which the pope made a joke in reference to his knee. “It would be better to resign than be operated on,” he said.
Francis underwent bowel surgery last summer. He is known to have suffered from sciatica, but so far he has never canceled an official trip due to health problems. In an interview with Argentine journalist Nelson Castro last year, he said he had never had to “cancel or limit anything” and that he had never struggled with fatigue or shortness of breath. When asked how he imagined his death, he replied: “As pope, in office or emeritus. And here in Rome, I will not return to Argentina.
At the beginning of his papacy in 2013, Francis said he would like a pope’s resignation to return to normal, and in 2015 he said he felt his pontificate would be brief, and described Benet’s decision to resign as “brave”. However, most commentators believe that Francis is unlikely to resign while Benet is alive.